On th at day, our 1st order Fresnel lens was put back into service after being repaired. In 1986, a vandal shot the lens at the top of the Lighthouse tower damaging 19 of the prisms. Beginning in 1980, the Junior Service League led a massive community effort to restore the St. Augustine Light Station. The restoration of the Keepers’ House was completed in 1990 after a disastrous fire in 1970. The League opened the Lighthouse [...]
We recently had to close the Lighthouse to our climbing guests due to moisture in the Tower. This is an interesting phenomenon that occurs, at least in my experience, only in the month of January. January is the month where we experience our coldest temperatures here in Northeast Florida, and this year was no exception. Several nights here on Anastasia Island, the temperature reached to below freezing. During these conditions, the bricks and mortar, granite [...]
When it comes to lighthouses, lots of folks have lots of questions: Do they really need these things anymore? Does it still work? What time does the light come on? The answer to all three is a resounding “yes”! You see, navigational lights along our nation’s coastlines are just as important for ship captains and mariners as runway and airport lights are for airline pilots. Just imagine telling airline pilots that they don’t need those [...]
An email made its way across staff computers today bringing to our attention a new post on the Lighthouse History blog. Its a summary of the Instructions to Light-Keepers, a formal set of guidelines set by the U.S. government’s Light-House Board for Lighthouse Keepers across the country. Its a great read so I thought I’d bring it to folks attention on our own blog. Some highlights from Lighthouse History: The 1881 Instructions began, “The Keeper [...]
The original St. Augustine Lighthouse was built of coquina around the 1730s, and collapsed into the sea just three years after the present-day tower was completed in 1874. It was here that Minorcan resident Maria Andreu served as Lighthouse Keeper after her husband, the former Keeper, died in 1859. There was a great article in the St. Augustine Record today, that also ran in Jacksonville's Florida Times-Union, about the woman who served as a Lighthouse [...]
Before and after photographs of the tower, after an outbreak of mold was cleaned in March 2013. Historic preservation and the maintenance of historic structures is a never-ending challenge. Our team recently made a great step forward in the ongoing caretaking of the Lighthouse. Improper maintenance back in the 1970’s destroyed the surface of the brick on our keeper’s house, presenting us with a special problem today. Mold grows on the side of our tower [...]
A great blog entry has been making the rounds lately, written by Craig Morrison, the owner of the Execution Rocks Lighthouse in Long Island Sound. In his Diary of a Light Keeper he tells the story of how he was first inspired to seek out, acquire, and manage his own lighthouse. We here at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum are proud that we played a role in his inspiring story: Sometime back around 2001, [...]
The Huffington Post website compiled a slideshow of the prettiest lighthouses in America, in honor of National Lighthouse Day last Tuesday. Several pictures of the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum were listed, some ranked as high as number 8 best lighthouse photo by viewers. Go check them out! National Lighthouse Day remembers a Congressional act that established support of lighthouses, buoys, beacons and public piers in 1789.
The Weather Channel just released their list of the top eleven lighthouses in the country as their celebration of our nation's lighthouses for National Lighthouse Day, August 7th. The top choices were chosen by the Weather Channel's Facebook fans, and after tallying hundreds of votes the St. Augustine Lighthouse was listed in the top eleven in the country! Congratulations to the staff of the Lighthouse and LAMP for their part in making our Lighthouse such [...]
The St. Augustine Lighthouse’s First Order Fresnel Lens is included in the French Heritage Trail published by the State of Florida. The Lighthouse lens was hand blown in Paris in 1874, specifically for use in St. Augustine, so our Spanish City has a French night light. According to the American Lighthouse Coordinating Committee archives, there are only 16 such original, first-order, Fresnel lenses in light towers as working aids to navigation in the United States. [...]